Poems & Other Lies

Poems & Other Lies

Words

Words

No matter how close you think you are to a person, there are things you can never say to them, neither truth nor fiction, not in earnest and certainly never in jest. Words can be a knife or more often, a cudgel. I knew that, but somehow chose to ignore it. I find...

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Mortality Waits

Mortality Waits

In the ominous gloom of predawn, behind and somewhere above the henhouse, an owl poses the question: “Who? Who, who?” Inside, the hens shuffle restlessly, murmuring their fears and discontent, unhappy to be awakened before sunup,...

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I Got Burned

I Got Burned

        When I look at photos of you from your youth, I laugh and say:"I got burned!"You do know I am just kidding?You were beautiful when we metand you are beautiful now.When I look at you I still see the beautiful woman I first met, all those...

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The Mystery

The Mystery

The clouds are gone. Bright stars wink, sprinkled across the black sky. I close my eyes to meditate, breathing, but the stars call to me. As I open my eyes a shooting star burns across the southern horizon. I give up on the breathing exercises and stare into the...

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26 Degrees

26 Degrees

Dawn breaks, the color of old lead; an almost invisible icy mist wafts down. I hear it rattle the dead leaves and feel its tentative caress on my face.

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Season To Taste

Season To Taste

Amy tells me I add way too much salt when I cook. She laughs because I never know how much horseradish is too much until after my first bite. Eyes watering, mouth afire, my nose tingling like a funny-bone tapped exactly wrong. And sometimes, I pepper my writing with...

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A Dander of Snow

A Dander of Snow

Tiny bits of white fluff float before me driven from the east on the faintest of breezes but never in a straight line they dart and swirl here and there interrupting their descent to rise through their fellows and drop again eventually to dander the heaps and drifts...

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The Puppy-dog Thoughts of a Child

The Puppy-dog Thoughts of a Child

The puppy-dog thoughts of a child So evanescent, changing from moment to moment. So simple, so pure, so fleeting. Adoration, frustration, happy discovery Hunger, satiation, pain, comfort Sleepy, awake! Abandonment, reunion, Comfort, adoration.   When did these...

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November Chill

November Chill

            One last leaf stubbornly clinging to the end of a branch fluttering in the cold November wind a memory of summer refusing to acknowledge the season has turned.

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